The present disclosure relates generally to broadband array antennas and, more particularly, broadband array antennas enhanced with spatially engineered dielectrics.
A radome is an enclosure that protects a device, such as a microwave antenna, a radar antenna or a phased array antenna. The radome is constructed of material that minimally attenuates electromagnetic signals. Radomes also serve to protect antenna surfaces from weather or to conceal antenna electronic equipment from view. Radomes can be spherical, geodesic, planar, etc., depending upon the particular application and may be ground or aircraft based.
Phased array antennas, in particular, suffer from impedance degradation when a scanning angle is offset from a boresight angle. As such, the scanning or active reflection coefficient increases from large scan angles and tends to reduce the power transmitted to or received by the array.